Dogged Berman Leads Newbury Park to Win

Jeff Berman of Newbury Park and Dan Chergey of Thousand Oaks faced each other Friday at Thousand Oaks High in an anticipated duel between a couple of the Marmonte League’s top pitchers.

For four innings, Chergey had the upper hand, holding Thousand Oaks hitless until Chris Fick singled in the top of the fourth. Berman, meanwhile, struggled with his control and had to pitch out of a bases-loaded jam in the first.

Chergey weakened in the fifth inning, however, and was replaced in the sixth. Berman kept his reputation intact and struck out 12 in Newbury Park’s 6-0 win.

In the first, Thousand Oaks (2-2-1, 0-1 in league play) loaded the bases on two walks and a single but Berman (2-1) struck out the next two batters to escape untouched. Berman then scattered five singles over the final six innings.

“He’s an outstanding high school pitcher,” Thousand Oaks Coach Jim Hansen said of Berman. “But we have to be more aggressive at the plate. We got kids going to the plate taking two strikes and then are afraid to swing at the third.”

Newbury Park (6-3, 1-0) scored three runs off Chergey in the fifth on five hits, including a run-scoring single by Adam Goldstein. Goldstein, who was 2 for 3 with two runs batted in, also scored the Panthers’ final run of the inning on a Don Smith single.

Chergey was replaced by Jason Sanders in the next inning after yielding three hits, including another RBI single by Goldstein.

“When he’s out there he’s like a major league short reliever, trying to gun everyone down,” Hansen said of Chergey (0-1). “We had several opportunities to score but didn’t. He’s out there thinking he can’t give up a run and got tired. If we score three runs in the first inning he can relax out there and do the other things he can do.”